Ghosts and Gold
by Guardian Spirit
Summary: Relena, Heero, Hilde, and Duo go to a haunted house where a murder had taken place a long time ago. The characters are a little OOC, some more than others. PLease R/R! Oh, by the way, I do not own Gundam Wing, nor will I ever own it. *Chapter three is up*
1. Ghost and Gold: Chapter One

The cold autumn wind howled as it blew though the trees. An old stone mansion stood in the middle of the forest, covered in ivy. It had been abandoned for quite some time now, and was beginning to fall apart. A loud creak rang throughout the woods as Relena Dorlian opened the door to the old house, her blond hair shimmering in the moonlight. She was wearing her normal jeans and a blue t-shirt, which matched her eyes. Behind her stood her friends Duo, Heero, and Hilde. Duo was completely dressed in black, which was what he always wore. He had on a black hat to match his outfit, which covered his long, light brown hair. Huddled next to him was Hilde, her small body clinging to Duo's arm for protection. Next to them stood Heero, his unruly mop of brown hair flying in every direction. He rolled his eyes as Hilde gasped when the door opened. "Hilde, you better watch out or else the boogey man might get you!" Hilde whimpered and immediately clung harder onto Duo's arm. 

"Heero, knock it off!" Relena scolded, "now are we going in or what?" The three teens nodded and followed Relena into the mansion. One by one they entered, their footsteps echoing. 

"Jeese, it's cold in here," Heero tightened his jacket, "so, you think we're gonna find any ghosts in here?" 

Hilde's body tightened, "This house isn't really haunted, right guys?"

A snicker escaped Duo's mouth, "Are you kidding? This house is full of ghosts! I'd be surprised if we don't run into one!" Hilde yelped. 

"Duo! Don't scare her like that!" Relena scolded. Duo dug his hands into his pockets and grinned. 

"I'm sorry, Hilde." They continued on in silence until they reached their destination. It was a large room, filled with old pictures and furniture. Everything was covered in dust, adding to the eeriness of the house. There was a small bed in the corner of the room, a dresser, and a couple of chairs. 

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Duo asked. Relena picked up a picture from the dresser. It was of a little girl in a pink dress decorated with flowers, who looked no more than ten. 

"Well, we're going to try and contact the spirit of this little girl. She disappeared many years ago from this house. They never found what happened to her. Some believe that she was killed by her mother who went crazy." Relena started to talk in a low voice, "It is said that she still haunts this house and at night, if you listen very closely, you can still hear her laughing as she plays out in the yard." 

"BOO!" Relena, Heero, and Hilde all jumped as Duo jumped out at them. He burst out laughing, "Aw man, you guys should have seen your faces! That was priceless!" Hilde sat down on the floor and sighed. "Can we just get this over with already?" Relena and Heero joined her on the floor, soon followed by Duo who was trying to stop laughing. Relena placed the picture on the floor and they formed a tight circle around it. "Okay, everyone hold hands." They grasped each others hands, doing as they were told. "Now everyone be quiet and close your eyes." They each closed their eyes and Relena started to talk, "Spirit, we have come to talk to you. Send us-" Duo snorted. "Duo!" Hilde hit him in the arm, "Shut up already!" They closed their eyes again as Relena restarted. 

"Spirit, send us a sign that you are here." They all fell silent as they waited. After two minutes, Duo snorted again. 

"This is stupid! Why don't we just all go home? That story is nothing but an old ghost story they used to tell us at camp. There's no-" He stopped abruptly as a loud thud came from the room above. 

"W-what was that?" Heero whispered. 

"I don't know. Duo? Was that you?" Hilde asked. He shook his head no. "Relena?" 

"It wasn't me." They all stared up at the ceiling. 

"Maybe someone's up there," Heero whispered. 

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Relena stood up. 

"Hey, where're ya going?" Duo grabbed her arm. 

"Upstairs to find out what that noise was." The three of them stared at her in bewilderment. 

"Are you nuts!?" Duo asked, "What happens if there's some kind of crazy, psychopathic murderer up there ready to chop you into a million pieces?" Relena pried his hand from the grip it had on her arm. 

"Duo, really, there's no one up there. It's probably just a cat or something. Anyways, aren't any of you the least bit curious to what made that noise?" 

"No!" they all said in unison. 

"Well, I am and I'm going up there whether you guys are coming or not." With that she marched out the door and into the hallway. The other three sat there in shock. "Relena, wait!" Heero got up and ran after her, leaving Hilde and Duo sitting there alone. They glanced at each other. 

"Hey guys! Wait for us!" 


	2. Ghosts and Gold: Chapter Two

The four teens walked cautiously up the rickety old stairs leading to the attic, where the noise had come from. They were all huddled in a tight group, afraid that something might be lurking in the shadows. The stairs creaked as the slowly walked up them. Finally they reached the top. "Someone open the door," Duo said softly. Relena turned the knob and pushed the door to reveal a small, dark room. In the corner was a small lit candle. 

"Why is there a candle here? No one's lived here for at least a thousand years," she asked. 

"Who cares," Duo replied, "it's a source of light." He quickly ran over, grabbed it, and ran back. He then held it up to his friends and then around the room. The room was actually larger than they had first imagined. There were a few boxes, which were covered in cobwebs. There was one small window, and the ceiling swooped down a bit where the roof did. 

"Okay, well, no one's here. I guess we can go home now." Hilde started for the door but was stopped by Relena. 

"Look." There was another lit candle. Hilde's face went pale. 

"B-but, how can that be? It-it wasn't lit when we came in here just a minute ago." Duo started to panic, "That's it! I'm outta here!" He turned to run, but before he could escape, the door slammed shut. He tried to pull it open, but the door wouldn't budge. "It won't open!" 

Hilde screamed, "Aw man, Aw man, it's the ghost of the little girl! She's gonna seek revenge for her death and kill us!" She collapsed on the floor and started to sob. "Hilde, get a hold of yourself!" Relena grabbed her by the shoulders. "It's okay. No one's gonna kill us." Hilde started to cry louder. "Heero, calm her down will ya? I'm gonna get the other candle." Relena slowly got up and walked over to the other candle. She was about to grab it when she saw a book laying next to it. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she picked up the book. It was red with a gold outline. In gold letters was the word 'Photos'. She flipped open to a page and found herself looking at a black and white picture of a family. There were seven people in the picture, a mother, a father, three boys, one girl, and what looked to be a maid and a gardener. Relena ran her finger over the picture and shivered as a gust of wind blew in through the tiny window, flipping the pages of the album. The new page revealed a picture of a little girl, the same one that they had tried to contact earlier. Relena turned the page. The next picture was of the little girl and a tall man. He had a mustache and was wearing a suit and hat. Hanging out of his pocket was a watch. Relena squinted and she could just make out the letters _SMG_. Looking at that picture gave her the shivers. There was something about that man that looked, well, evil. 

"Relena, what're you doing over there?" Heero's voice brought her back to reality. "I'm coming." She picked up the book. Underneath it were come papers. She picked those up too and brought them back to where the others were sitting. "Look what I found." She said, sitting down. 

"What is it?" Hilde said through sniffles. 

"It's a photo album. There's pictures of the family who used to live here, and look," She opened up to the picture of the little girl, "it's the little girl we were trying to contact." She flipped the page to reveal the picture of the girl and the tall man. 

"He's creepy looking," Hilde stated, "just looking at him sends chills up my spine. Who is he?" 

Relena closed the book, "I'm not quite sure. Maybe the father or something. I also found these." She held up the letters. 

"What are those?" Heero inquired. 

"Letters it looks like." Relena handed one to him and then to Hilde. "Here, start reading these. See if you can find anything interesting." The three of them started to read while Duo continued to fiddle with the door. Relena read the letter very carefully. 

__

December 15, 1916

My dearest Sara,

I hope that you and your mother are doing well. I do miss you both very much. I am doing fine and I hope to be coming home soon. I pray that the war will end soon, so we can all be a family again. I want you to do me a favor, just in case I don't return. In the shed there is a box. It is filled with money. Go to the shed and get it. Give it to your mother and tell her I want her to put it in a safe place. Now, be careful. Don't let your uncle Samuel learn of the money, for he will try to steal it. Now, go and do as I say. Tell your mother I love her. 

Love always, Father

She finished reading the letter. "Hey guys, look at this." The others gathered around her. "The little girl's name was Sara. It's says here that her father was at war and he had some money stashed away that he wanted her and his wife to have. He seemed to have been afraid though that her uncle would take it. I wonder…" She picked up the photo album and flipped to the picture of Sara and the tall man. " I wonder if that's him." A loud creak was heard. 

"Door's fixed." Duo stated, "now let's get out of here." Relena shoved the letter in her pocket and followed her friends out the door. 

"Before we leave there's one more thing I want to do." 


	3. Ghosts and Gold: Chapter Three

The four friends stood outside the shed in the backyard. "Make this quick, okay Relena?" Heero said, impatiently. Duo fiddled with the lock on the shed door. "Almost…there. It's open." Hilde stood behind him, clinging to Heero's arm. "Tell me again, why are we here again and not at home in our warm, safe beds?" Relena opened the door to the shed, "I just want to see…" She gasped. "Oh my god!" There, lying on the floor was a small skeleton, wearing a pink dress with flowers on it, just like the one that Sara had been wearing in the picture. After she got over the shock of seeing the skeleton, Relena slowly walked into the shed and knelt down beside it. The tiny fingers were clinging to a box. Relena carefully took the box from the skeleton's grasp, much to the surprise of her friends. She opened it up to reveal a golden watch. On the watch were the initials _SMG_. "I know who did it," She declared as she closed the box and put it back down on the floor, "I know who killed Sara." 

"Who?" her friends asked in unison. 

"It was her uncle. Her father had told Sara to go get a box of money he had hidden in the shed, but to make sure only she and her mom knew about it. He specifically said not to let her uncle know anything about it. Sara, after reading the letter, must have gone to the shed to retrieve the money, but forgot to hide the letter. Her uncle must have seen the letter and went to the shed to get the money, but when Sara was already there, he deiced to just take it from her. He probably took the money from her and locked her in the shed so she couldn't tell anyone that he stole it. The letter she got from her father was dated December, so it was probably January when she got it. The poor thing must have frozen to death." She finished her explanation. Dave, Harry, and Caitlin looked shocked. 

"That's so sad," Hilde looked on the verge of tears.

"Yeah, poor little girl" Duo agreed, "what a horrible way to die." The four of them stood there for a while in silence, just thinking, until it started to get light out. 

"We should get going," Heero said softly. 

"Yeah," the others agreed. One by one they left the shed, Relena closing the door after she exited. She sighed and looked once more around at the old house before following the others back to their homes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little girl in a pink dress, playing. She turned her head, but the girl was gone. She smiled and kept walking as the little girl's laughter disappeared with the wind. 


End file.
